


the visitor

by Tuvieja



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Childhood Trauma, M/M, all the same warnings as the books, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:21:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21748942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tuvieja/pseuds/Tuvieja
Summary: Everyone has a soulmate, they can conact one another once they are teenagers but sometimes, when experiencing too much stress or trauma, soulmates may be able to "visit" each other before reaching maturity.Neil and Andrew visit a lot
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 227
Kudos: 472





	1. The kids aren't alright

**Author's Note:**

> Soulmate!AU because I'm a sap and want these boys to find each other and be happy

The first time it happens Andrew was sitting in an overcrowded room, trying to ignore the other sleeping children. He’s staring at the book in his hands, making out the words by the light filtering through the blinds, when he notices him.

The thing about having an eidetic memory is that you never forget a face, and this boy had never been to the house before. He also wasn’t sleeping.

Standing in the middle of the room was a young boy, maybe around Andrew’s age but shorter. He had a head full of curls that was plastered against his forehead, the most shocking part were his eyes, even in the dim light Andrew could see the icy blue stare fixed on him. The kid was soaping wet and shivering but he didn’t move, and Andrew didn’t try to approach.

After a few seconds Andrew blinked and the boy was gone. He went to sleep, considering that this hallucination was proof that he was more tired than he thought.

Nathaniel came back gasping for air, his lungs and throat hurt and he was freezing.

when he tried to sit up he was pushed back by his mother’s hands. Nathaniel looked up to her and noticed she was crying. His mother didn’t cry, not unless his father was there… That’s when he remembered what happened

His father had gotten angry at him, and pushed him into the half-full bathtub.

Nathaniel leaned over and started throwing up the water as his mother calmed down, choosing to start reprimanding him instead.

Faint memories of a blond boy, lit by moonlight, fading to the back of his mind as he came to terms with the fact that his father had finally killed him like he said he would. 

The weird vision wasn’t really important right now…

* * *

Nathaniel is sitting in his room, trying to become invisible when he sees the moon-lit boy again, with more light this time around. Which strikes him as strange since he didn’t think he was dying right then.

The boy is crouched at the end of his bead, curled up tight with his hands covering his ears. There’s so much tension in his body that he’s starting to tremble. 

In a whisper, as to not startle the scared angel, Nathaniel calls out to him,"Are you okay?"

The trembling stops instantly and the other kid lifts his head, pinning Nathaniel down with his hazel eyes. "Who the hell are you?"

"Shouldn’t I be asking you that? Since you are in **my** room?"

Andrew looks around himself, suddenly noticing the huge space he was in instead of the small cupboard he had gotten into.

Later, he’d blame his surprise on the sound he let out.

Nathaniel startled and hurried to hush him down, "We can’t make any noise or he’ll hear us!"

Andrew was busy surveying his new surroundings to look back at the other, but at his words he immediately tensed back up "Who?"

"Father. Who are you? The son of one of his men? He’s going to be angry if he finds you in the upper floor, you know?"

The blond frowned at him like he was saying nonsense. "I’m Andrew, and I wasn’t here a second ago."

Nathaniel guessed as much, considering he hadn’t seen him, "I’m Nathaniel, you can stay if you want to."

Andrew looked back at the kid, noticing how he was still whispering, half buried in the covers like he was trying to hide away. He had seen that image too many times not to recognize it.

"I think I will, for a little while."

Nathaniel smiled when he heard this, happy to have someone to share some of his time with.

Andrew sat on the bed, positioning his body so he’d be able to watch the door at all times, if this “father” came back then he’d have some time to run.

* * *

Nathaniel asked his mother about soulmates exactly once. Whatever information she had wasn’t worth the beating he got.

"You must never speak to them, Nathaniel, do you hear? Never contact whoever is on the other side and block them if they try to contact you."

Scared, the boy promised he had never seen anybody or gone anywhere so she would calm down.

Andrew decided that talking to adults was worthless from the start, and went to his school library to get the answers he needed.

All kids grew up knowing about soulmates, hearing stories of brave knights that were visited by trapped princesses asking for help, or the thief who found himself in a palace in front of a beautiful lady, even the one where a woman saw a beast and guessed his true face in the cursed features.

But he was looking for actual facts, not silly stories about how finding a person can solve all your problems. He found a book in the highschool section titled "About soul-bonds and visiting", it was huge and had a few words Andrew didn’t know yet but he was determined to read it all.

As Andrew sat in a corner of the library, hidden away from annoying teachers and loud classmates, he switched between the tome and a dictionary, slowly making his way through. When he was about to finish the first chapter Nathaniel appeared. The boy didn’t say anything, he just darted a quick look around and sat on the chair opposite Andrew’s. Andrew didn’t know why he was here, but he could guess by the way Nathaniel was holding his ribs, keeping his face down so that his black eye wasn’t as prominent. He didn’t ask and the other didn’t offer any answers.

It wasn’t like Andrew could help him, they’d tried touching one another but their hands went straight through, so Andrew contented himself with distracting the younger boy by reading to him outloud.

"One of the known triggers for early visiting is extreme emotional or physical distress. This is when one’s soulmate has gone through a traumatic experience and the body automatically reaches out to..."

They spent the afternoon like that, Andrew reading and Nathaniel listening, when the librarian came by to kick him out Andrew lifted his head and Nathaniel was gone.

He knew they’d see eachother soon enough though, “extreme distress” sounded like something both of them knew all too well.


	2. Neil gets shot and Andrew learns French

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a quick chapter to get back into writing this fic, expect another chapter (with actual plot!?) soon

Alex was running for his life, he didn’t know where his mother was, or where he was for that matter, but he knew that if he stopped then he’d be dead.

On the back of his ming Alex felt the gentle tug that preceded travel but pushed it aside, it wasn’t the right moment. He needed to be present but the blood loss from the wound in his shoulder wasn’t helping and the promise of going somewhere calm, of seeing Andrew again, was hard to pass up.

Alex kept running.

Until he rounded a corner and an unseen arm lashed out and pulled him into a dark doorway. He tried to fight, kicking back with all the strength he had left, but it wasn’t much and his captor quickly covered his mouth and pressed on his shoulder so he’d stop struggling.

"That’s enough, Alex!" The sharp whisper of his mom’s voice was angry but Alex felt nothing other than relief.

Once she made sure he wouldn’t run from her he set him on his feet and turned around. In no time they were on a stolen car, speeding their way to another state, far from the Butcher’s men.

Alex had a hastily made tourniquet on his shoulder but between the wound and running for literal hours, he couldn’t keep conscious, no matter how hard Mary tried to keep him with her.

***

"I thought I told you not to visit at night."

Abram lifted his head from the floor and looked at the voice. He was laying on a carpeted room, a small light shining from the nightstand let him make out blond curls and an annoyed expression. He knew Andrew enough to understand that it was from waking him in the middle of the night and not actually from his presence.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

Andrew squinted at him, trying to see better in the darkness of the room.

"What..." He started, his voice now the usual monotone, but seemed to change his mind and just shook his head.

Abram curled more into himself, trying not to jostle his injuries too much. He didn’t feel his arm anymore, which was a good thing, but that meant he could now feel his blistered feet and sprained ankle.

Andrew looked at him in silence for a moment longer before getting out of bed.

The blond dragged the comforter down with his as he sat in front of Abram with a book under his arm.

Now he could clearly see the blood stain spreading slowly but surely over his hoodie. 

"Are you going to pass out on me?"

Abram thought about it for a moment, "Maybe."

Andrew nodded, opened the book they had been reading the last time and started reading out loud.

He couldn’t comfort Abram or heal him but sometimes just a bit of distraction was enough.

* * *

It was close to dawn and Chris was wide awake. His mother hadn’t returned from wherever she had gone earlier that day and he couldn’t sleep on his own

"That’s when they get you. You wait until I’m here and then we can rest" She’d told him.

In an effort to remain awake he had been going over his french textbook, mouthing to himself the verbs so that they wouldn’t sound too foreign.

He was so immersed in his studies that he didn’t realise the moment when he stopped being alone in the room

His mother would have beaten him for that.

Andrew was curled up in a tight ball, his fingers gripping his legs with so much force the knuckles turned white. The boy was still wearing his pajamas, since it was also the middle of the night in the States.

When Chris made eye contact with him Andrew lowered his eyes to the floor without a word.

"I’m Chris" He said, still getting used to the name.

Andrew didn’t look at him but he nodded in acknowledgement. His eyes were dark and although he didn’t shake, Chris knew the kind of stillness that was holding his body, the sort of immobility that you resorted to when the monsters were so powerful all you could do was stay still and hope they didn’t see you.

" _Je suis Chris"_ His clumsy attempt got him a head tilt. Happy with the reaction Chris decided that it was better to practise outloud, after a while Andrew had already picked up a few phrases and they were managing a basic conversation in French.

They kept it up until Chris heard the tell tale sound of someone coming up the stairs and between one blink and the next, Andrew was gone.


	3. *Technically* this isn't jail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andrew is in juvie and finds out a couple of things  
> Abram is Confused

"Andrew..."

Andrew didn’t look at him

"Andrew."

He seemed awfully interested in the plain white wall over his bed.

"Andrew!"

Finally a pair of hazel eyes deigned to move five inches to the left so he could boringly stare at a muddy brown glare.

"What."

Abram was exasperated, he hadn’t visited in a few weeks because his mom and him had been lying low in Canada for a while and she hadn’t been too angry. Andrew had visited as usual, mostly in the dead of night, and they had been practicing their german and learning quebecois. 

Now he finally felt the pull once again and he was…

"Care to explain how you ended up in jail?"

"It’s a juvenile detention centre." The blond recited, as if he had heard it way too many times and still didn’t care.

Abram huffed and gestured around himself.

"Right. _Baby_ jail."

That one got him a smirk at least.

Abram sat down heavily on Andrew’s bed and looked down at him. Andrew had no visible injuries, but he normally didn’t, his expression was the usual neutral face he wore so that other people would leave him alone (It didn’t work with Abram since they had known each other for so long that even a blank expression meant something to him)

The blond was stretched across the bed, with his arms crossed behind his head and face stubbornly fixed on the ceiling, still.

"Staring"

Since he wasn’t even looking at him Abram decided it wouldn’t be too childish to stick his tongue out at Andrew

The shorter boy observed him with the corner of his eye. Abram looked to be in a bad shape, then again, he usually was, but his bruises were carefully hidden under clothing or covered with makeup, the black eye and red cheeks looked way too fresh for his liking.

"What did you do this time? Ask a classmate for the homework?" His tone was disinterested but there was no mistaking the strong distaste simmering under that forced neutrality.

Abram shrugged his shoulders. "It’s not my turn."

They had developed this game early on their visits. Sometimes they needed to ask questions but neither of them was willing to give anything away for free. Andrew was the one to come up with the “equal-exchange” rule, a question for a question, although they could simply refuse to answer if they felt like it.

"I stole a car, crashed it and may or may not have been drunk while I did it."

Abram raised an eyebrow but chose not to comment, yet.

"I kissed a girl to see if it was “my thing” and mom saw me."

Andrew nodded. He had been the one to suggest it to him in the first place, it’d be bad if he believed in regret but it wasn’t his fault that the other boy had been too stupid to properly hide from his mother. 

Mary beating him wasn’t something they talked about much because there was no middle ground, Andrew said he should kill her, Abram said it was all to protect him.

Andrew had kissed some boys already and was trying to figure things out, he knew he liked men, the fact that his soulmate was male was a clear confirmation of that, but Abram had assured him “he didn’t care about that”. 

While neither of them believed that soulmates had to be romantically (or sexually) involved, it had been interesting for Andrew that a teenage boy had actually never been interested in anybody, ever. So he told Abram that maybe he hadn’t found “his thing” yet.

Which had prompted exploration and, apparently a beating.

"And what’s the verdict?"

"Definitely not into it. It was boring, and wet."

Andrew didn’t laugh but maybe he did smile a little bit.

If he was a bit happy that Abram showed no interest at all on girls the other didn’t need to know.

"Why did you crash a car? I thought you knew how to drive"

The fact that Abram didn’t ask why he _stole_ it was amusing as well.

Andrew pondered for a moment if he should skip this question but it was easier to just get it out of the way, the pest would probably find out eventually.

"I have a twin."

The reaction was not what he expected, Abram laughed and leaned back, "Of course you do. And he was the one to do those things, right? I’m sure the judge will believe it."

When the blond didn’t join in the laughter Abram sat back up. "Wait."

"His name is Aaron.

"What…"

"And there’s also a cousin and shitty uncle."

Abram was staring at him like he was trying to decide if he was fucking with him or not, but they had known each other for far too long and this didn’t seem like the kind of jokes Andrew would play.

"If I knew that finding a secret family was all it took to shut you up, I’d have done it sooner."

"But, why..."

"Turns out dear old mom didn’t want two of us so she got rid of the spare"

Abram frowned.

"You aren’t…"

The blond held up his hand and Abram shut up instantly. Andrew threw himself back onto the bed as the door started opening.

Abram turned to the door and then back to him, "This conversation isn’t over."

The blond waved his hand in a “go away” gesture and Abram disappeared as his roommate walked into the room.

The conversation was over. 

As the other boy walked in, Andrew thought that if Abram got to experiment with his sexuality to pass the time then he should as well. 

* * *

Jacques got back into his body harshly, forcing the visit to end always felt awful, like pulling a muscle. Not to mention that his face hurt more now that he was in his actual body.

He was laid across the back seat of the car as his mother sped down the highway, he was supposed to be resting so he could take over when the sun went down but the beating and sudden move had been enough to pull him away.

Lucky for him Mary still hadn’t caught onto that particular ability of his.

He stayed immobile, his breathing steady, as he pondered over this new information. Andrew had a family, and he had gotten himself in jail the moment he found out. 

Jacques wasn’t one to judge, he was the first one to support getting as far away as possible from part of your family. 

He stared at the back of his mother’s seat, wondering what it’d be like to have her give up on him. He didn’t think he’d survive a day without her pulling him along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Neil is Demi but neither Andrew nor him have had any contact with the queer community and the possibility of other sexualities aside from straight and gay. They are trying their best(?)


	4. Neil gets drunk and Andrew plays exy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is pretty self-explanatory but also: Andrew gets a surprise visit that *isn't* a certain runaway

Stefan didn’t want to think about the fact that Andrew stopped visiting the moment he got himself into juvie. He was just glad that the other didn’t feel the need to get away.

Stefan _also_ didn’t want to think about the last time he had visited and caught Andrew doing _things_ with his roommate. The look Andrew had given him would have killed a lesser man and he had pulled himself right back, pain be damned.

It had been a while since then, Andrew hadn’t reached out and Stefan wasn’t too eager to be the first to.

Of course his willingness didn’t matter when he was in a lot of pain and slightly drunk from Mary’s brand of “painkillers”.

Stefan appeared on an exy court, of all places. He hadn’t been to one of those in literal years and the shock of the familiar structure made him stop.

He wasn’t just _at_ the court, it was the middle of a match, the sound of the ball bouncing off the walls and teammates yelling at one another made him think back to the last time he had played. 

But that had been many years ago, at the Raven’s Nest, with a couple of kids his age. Those kids he now only saw on his binder, playing together and having fun, unlike him.

"You shouldn’t be here." A hiss came from his right and he turned in time to see Andrew, clad in full goalie gear, bat away a shot. His movements looked effortless, his expression as bored as ever. He looked uninterested even though Abram knew the skill necessary to stop a shot like that.

He didn’t even know Andrew knew how to play exy, let alone that he was good at it.

When Andrew noticed he couldn’t even stand up straight, let alone talk to him, he rolled his eyes.

"Just sit down, it’s almost over."

Abram went to a corner and let himself fall to the ground, his gaze fixed on the small goalkeeper. Considering his size, Andrew should have trouble tending the goal but his movements were lightning quick and his eyes followed the movements of the players like a predator stalking prey.

Andrew now had one more reason to have this match end quickly, so he didn’t let any more goals in. Everytime he threw the ball all the way to the other half of the court he’d check on the invisible boy on the corner. He was still there, watching with an intensity he hadn’t seen before. Just his luck, that his soulmate would thoroughly enjoy a sport he had absolutely no interest in.

The match was over and the kids were marched to the showers, Andrew took a detour to the stalls, followed by his shadow.

"What are you doing here."

Abram was still unsteady but at least he seemed aware of his surroundings. His response, however, was just a shrug.

It wasn’t the first time Abram had visited while _incapacitated_ , but that didn’t mean Andrew had any more patience for it.

"Can you go back?"

The boy closed his eyes tightly, as if he was concentrating really hard.

Nothing happened.

"S’rry"

Andrew let out an exasperated sigh.

"Whatever, just keep quiet and don’t distract me."

Abram nodded and they made their way out.

The quiet lasted as far as the changing room. Abram was standing in the middle of the room, looking around as if he had never seen a locker.

"Didn’t know you played."

Andrew didn’t answer.

"I used to, when I was younger. But then mom forbid it."

Oh surprise. Mother dearest didn’t let her son do literally anything he enjoyed? 

"You looked very nice on the goal"

Andrew rushed to get out of his pads so he could finally be alone and tell the, now blond, bastard to shut up.

He was making a hasty retreat when one of the guards called out for him.

"Doe, come here."

He’d like nothing more than not to do that but juvie wasn’t a nice place for individual thinking.

He threw a glare at Abram to make sure he’d stay quiet, the other mimicked sealing his lips and throwing away the key, followed by a stupid little giggle.

"What."

"You have a visitor."

Both Andrew and Abram stopped at this. They knew that Andrew didn’t have anybody on the outside he wanted to see (aside from the drunk kid currently by his side) so this couldn’t be good.

"I," started Andrew, "do not. So tell whoever is wasting your time, to go away." He tried to keep going but the man, Officer Higgins, stood in the middle of the hallway and there was no getting past him without touching him.

"He’s come a long way, Andrew. The least you could do is see him."

Abram shifted his eyes between the cop and Andrew. If this was about what he thought it was about…

"Andrew…"

Andrew looked at him, not caring what the man thought about him just staring at an “empty” spot in the wall.

"Maybe you should give it a try?"

"And why should I do that?"

Higgins, thinking the question was directed at him, rushed to answer, "Because he’s your brother, and he wants to meet you."

His suspicions confirmed, Abram said, "Because if you don’t then you’ll go the rest of your life wondering what it may have been like."

"I can live with that."

Abram nodded, "I know, but you don’t have to. And if you don’t like it then just walk away."

Higgins looked disappointed in him, not that Andrew cared, but Abram had a point. There was no harm in looking at the person who had the life he would have had if he had been chosen instead.

Turning to back, he said, "I need a moment. To prepare."

The guard didn’t seem too convinced but escorted him to his room anyway, "Five minutes."

Andrew nodded and closed the door in his face.

Abram looked at least a bit more sober when he turned to him.

"Why don’t you want to see him?"

The answer came too quick, like Andrew had been thinking about it, "What if I want to kill him?"

If there was someone on Earth who wouldn’t be bothered by possible murder that was Abram, he just took it in stride.

"You are already in jail." Abram joked, then he turned serious, "and I actually know how to do it properly, if you need to."

Satisfied with the answer, Andrew gathered himself, putting on a clean hoodie.

"Do you want me there?"

Did he? This meeting wasn’t going to be the tearful reunion Higgins or Aaron were hoping for, he didn’t even know if he’d made it pass “Hello”. Still, it was something personal, it was him meeting his brother, for some reason he didn’t want Abram see him fuck it up.

"I’ll tell you how it goes."

The other accepted this without question. And wasn’t that just incredible for Andrew, that someone would take his words and accept them as fact.

"Don’t do anything stupid" Andrew didn’t look back as he made his way towards his supposed family, as the only person who actually knew him faded into the background.

* * *

Stefan came back to his body with a jolt, his body aching all over from his wounds and the uncomfortable position he had been in from flying so many hours.

As the hangover set in he realized a few things, first, he needed to change his bandages, soon; second, he had totally forgotten to tell Andrew he was coming back to the US


	5. Sometimes No mom is better than Bad mom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for Andrew getting in a car accident THAT HE ARRANGED and all the bagage that comes with it

Joseph was bored.

He had already completed all of his readings, cleaned out the house they were squatting in, and even made inventory of their supplies.

Mary wouldn’t be back in a few hours yet, she had gone to the closest city to meet up with a contact that would give them new IDs. Joseph was under strict orders not to go outside but at this rate he’d run just because of the amount of boredom he was dealing with.

He was actually considering a quick visit when the boy in his mind materialized before his eyes. Only years of practise stopped him from jumping in surprise.

"Andrew!"

As usual, he looked him over for any obvious injury. No blood or bruise, which was good, he was standing by himself too so he focused on his face.

Andrew was never one to show emotion, even when they were kids he’d try to hide most of his expressions, that’s why seeing him like this made Abram take a step back.

His jaw was clenched, lips pursed so tight they were just a line, his eyes though, his eyes were wide and dark. His hands were curled into fists at his sides, the tension in his frame making him tremble slightly.

Abram put his hands in front of himself, trying to make himself look harmless.

"What happened?"

Andrew looked at him, like he hadn’t realized he was there until that moment. Once they locked eyes he let out a breath, relaxing his body a small fraction.

"I need your help."

The words startled and worried Abram, not because Andrew never needed help, but because he never admitted it outright. This was something serious and so he refrained from making any snide comments, he just nodded.

"You said…" Abram tried to make an encouraging face, "you said that you knew how to get rid of people."

Abram’s expression switched immediately to a blank one.

"I want you to help me do it."

Andrew never wanted anything (he didn’t let himself) so who was Abram to deny him his only wish? "Of course. But we are not using knives."

* * *

The next time Andrew visited him he was Daniel, and Andrew had a huge gash in his forehead along with a blank eye.

Never before had Abram wanted to be able to touch him as much as he did that day.

"Andrew what the fuck happened?"

The blond looked at him, his eyes were empty of any emotion.

"I did it."

Abram stopped fussing around him. "Were you…" Andrew was drifting so Abram snapped his fingers in front of his face to get his attention, "were you also in the damn car?"

He wasn’t yelling, Mary would hear him from the other room, but he was whispering as loud as he could and Andrew followed his lead,

"I had to make sure it was done."

"No you didn’t, you complete idiot. I told you it’d work. I told you it’d kill anybody on the car."

Abram had gone over the plan multiple times with him, just to make sure there were no loose ends, to make sure nothing could be traced back to his soulmate. He’d never thought the idiot was going to hitch a ride on a death machine just so nobody could suspect him.

There was no reason anybody would think Andrew did something to the car. So why did he get inside?

When Andrew didn’t seem to care about his words Abram started to despair.

"Andrew, Andrew look at me." The blond turned to him, "Tell me you planned to get out.."

When he only shrugged Abram froze.

"I was wearing my seatbelt."

"That doesn’t mean shit!" Abram shouted, losing his patience.

Mary yelled at him to be quiet but Abram ignored her as he let his body slump against the wall and slowly fall to the ground.

"Bloody hell Andrew." He cursed, his accent coming through thick in his distress. "You can’t just do this."

Andrew quietly settled at his side, his back against the wall, as he stared out at nothing. He pulled his legs to his chest, resting his head on his knees. He turned so his face was towards Abram.

"I’m not sorry, Abram"

"I know. And I hate you for that."

He couldn’t even look at him, he couldn’t see past the blood staining Andrew’s face. It was dripping everywhere.

There was so much blood...

The brunette turned sharply towards him. "Andrew?"

The other didn’t answer. His arms were limp by his sides, eyes half-lidded.

Abram knew what was happening. He had seen it many times before. Andrew’s eyes were unfocused, the blood on his forehead kept flowing freely, his movements were uncoordinated.

"No"

His worry, clear in his voice, clashed with the utter indifference in Andrew

"I had to save him, I promised"

His voice was still quiet, but the surety never faltered. He believed this. He believed that this promise was literally worth dying for.

Abram was wouldn’t stand for that."\ No, you didn’t!"

From what Abram had heard of Aaron he didn’t even deserve to be saved! the kid was just an addict who couldn’t stand up for himself. Why is he more worthy of salvation than Andrew?

"Righteous anger doesn’t suit you, runaway."

All Andrew did was look at him. He wasn’t moving, he was barely breathing. That was okay, though, Abram felt like he was breathing for two.

"Fuck you. We can still fix this."

Abram stood up and looked around, like there was something that could make him reach across hundreds of miles to where the other half of his soul was, lying over the console of a broken car, with a broken body.

"Okay, first things first. You’d need to be conscious"

"I’d rather not"

The look Abram shot him was deadly.

"You have to. No buts. Next. Once you are back you need to stop the bleeding."

"Why?"

And it was such a simple question that it stopped Abram on his tracks. _Why?_

"Andrew…

"No." Andrew sounded firmer than he felt. "I’m tired, I just want to stay here, why do I have to go back?"

Abram knelt before him. He looked into those hazel eyes, the eyes he had searched for every time his life got to be too much, every time he felt like he couldn't go on. He looked into the eyes of the boy who had been there every single time for him.

He raised his hand, letting it hover over Andrew’s cheek and, even though they both knew the other was merely an image, Andrew turned his face towards Abram’s palm, seeking to burrow into it.

"Because this isn’t real," Abram choked on the truth. No matter how much comfort they drew from one another, that was the truth. "We still haven’t met"

"That’s never going to happen and you know it."

It was a testament to how gone Andrew already was that he said this. Because he’d never reproached Abram the fact that he was running. That he was never in one place long enough for them to arrange something because it would put him in danger.

Abram ignored the hurt in his chest, focusing instead on saving Andrew. His words were slurring more by the second. If Abram didn’t get him back now he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to.

"What if we make a promise?" He knew this would get his attention. Promises were sacred to Andrew. That’s how their whole game of truth started. It was also the reason his soulmate was currently dying on a road in the middle of nowhere. "I promise you that we will find each other in the future but only if you promise to survive until then."

He didn’t pout, because Andrew didn’t _pout_ , but he made a face. "But I’m so tired."

Abram looked at him. His soulmate was curled up on the floor, covered in blood, after killing his mother, and he just wanted to rest. Why was he denying him that? He was being selfish and he knew it, he just couldn’t let go of this amazing boy that the universe had entrusted him. He just wanted to hold his hand at least once...

He shook himself out of it and smiled at Andrew with all the confidence he didn’t feel.

"Then. I promise the first thing we’ll do together will be to take a nap."

Andrew closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "I hate you."

"Of course you do."

With that he disappeared, the resolve in his eyes reassuring Abram that he’d live, at least until they could take that nap.


	6. Nicky is a perfect cousin, fight me

Nicky wasn’t bad, not really. He was just _a lot_. Andrew was tired within five minutes of meeting him.

He had flown all the way from Germany to be at the funeral, which meant it was a whole five people assisting, one of them Luther, who acted as reverend as well. 

When he saw Aaron, Nicky pulled him into a hug and cried on him like it was his own mother who had died. Andrew discretely moved away so he wouldn’t be pulled into it as well.

Once Aaron managed to get free Nicky turned to him but refrained from being too effusive on account of the visible stitches on his forehead and the sling.

"You must be Andrew, I’m sorry we couldn't meet in better circumstances." He extended a hand to shake but Andrew ignored him.

Nicky didn’t seem to take the hint and spent the rest of the day talking at the twins, getting little response from Aaron and none from Andrew.

The next day Luther had put them both in a car with Nicky and bid them goodbye. Apparently Nicky was going to be a more permanent fixture than he originally thought.

Nicky had a soulmate, he had found out by accident on their first night together. 

Andrew had gone to the kitchen to get a glass of water when he heard Nicky talking to himself. Wanting to check if his new cousin was actually insane he peeked behind his bedroom door.

Nicky was sitting in his bed, sight fixed on a point in the middle distance and he was talking to the air, but the way he did it… It seemed familiar somehow.

He was also not speaking English. Through the years, Abram and Andrew had learnt multiple languages, because it was a necessity of Abram and Andrew didn’t have anything better to do than help out.

Nicky was speaking flawless German at his bedroom wall.

"... and I don’t know what to do, Erik! They are so young but have been through hell. And they won’t talk to me!"

He stopped, as if listening to a response, then started nodding.

"I know, I know. I am giving it time but I just want to help them, and maybe wrap them up in blankets, give them sweets and hide them from the world so they can’t be hurt again!"

That was… ridiculous, but it was in line with what Nicky had been saying so far. Andrew wouldn't mind the sweets though.

A sigh pulled him back into the conversation, "I just wish you were here with me. Visiting is not the same."

Of course, that’s why it was so familiar to him. Nicky wasn’t crazy, or he was but he wasn’t talking to himself, Nicky was talking to his soulmate. And he had called them _Erik_.

Andrew thought back to the last time he visited Abram. It had been awful and he wasn’t actually fully conscious. Maybe he should pop by and tell him that he was alright.

"And this way we can’t even touch each other!" That was enough to make Andrew run off to his own room, locking the door behind himself.

As he got into bed he promised himself that tomorrow he’d visit Abram.

* * *

Nicky starts working multiple jobs to be able to maintain their little family and the twins help whenever they can. Luther had refused to help them and Tilda’s money had gotten them a house and a car and that was it.

It was another night at Eden’s Twilight and Andrew was itching for a smoke.

Nicky usually used his breaks to dance around and flirt, but all Andrew wanted was a respite from the loud music and sweaty strangers crowding around.

Finally Roland came to cover for him and he escaped to the back door.

He had just lit up when an unassuming figure appeared at his side. He was wearing a hoodie too big for his frame and ripped jeans that seemed to have actually been ripped on accident.

The idiot lifted his head and smiled at him through a split lip.

"Hey there."

Andrew blew smoke at his face even though he knew it’d do nothing.

"We are going to Seattle next." Abram had been steadily veering them towards Columbia without letting himself be too obvious about it but something had spooked Mary and they had flown all the way over the the other side of the country.

Andrew hummed, "Careful there, runaway, or you may not be able to keep your word."

"Don’t worry, I would never lie to you." To everyone else he had lied and was going to lie for the rest of his life but Andrew was sacred for Abram, the only person to know the real him. He’d fulfil his promise even if he needed to drag Mary through the entire continent.

Andrew was about to answer when they heard something.

At first it sounded just like any loud group of drunks stumbling their way out of the club but then Andrew recognized Nicky’s voice.

"Come on, it was just a joke…" He sounded small, nothing like the man Andrew knew him for.

Before they rounded the corner, there was a loud thud followed by a whimper.

"You fucking fig" The assholes were too drunk to even do slurs properly.

Andrew was running before the kicks started, Abram close behind.

When they saw the scene, Andrew’s sight filled with red.

He started with the biggest guy, who was hunched over Nicky. Then he went for his friends

He was hitting them over and over. 

The image of Nicky, this man who had travelled all this way to take care of him and his brother, who left his soulmate behind just so they could have a good life, curled over himself on the floor, was seared into his brain. The damned eidetic memory making sure his nightmares had some new material to work with.

"He’s still breathing but he’s unconscious. Maybe we should take him to a hospital?"

Andrew kept hitting the still form of the shithead in front of him.

"I mean, he has no visible traumatism but he’s been like this for a while…"

Now he had turned to the one closer to the alley way, that one had tried to run but had ended up the same way as the others.

"No blood, other than the one on his teeth, but that’s normal judging by the punch he got."

Andrew turned to look for the next victim when he heard a huff behind him.

"Could you maybe stop for a minute?"

"No"

"They are already down, Drew"

He knew that, he could clearly see them, but they needed to suffer more. He needed to make sure Nicky was safe.

"Look, your cousin needs attention, more than them. So why don’t we get out of here before the cops come? You know this time you won’t get out as easy as the last one."

Andrew’s foot slipped for another few kicks.

"Andrew, you cousin needs serious help"

This got him to turn around and look at Nicky. Abram was kneeling over him, looking at his bodu, searching for whatever wound had kept him down for so long.

He didn’t look too bad, he was just unconscious.

Andrew gathered him in his arms and carried him towards the parking lot.

"You know me…"

"Unfortunately."

"Hush. You know me, but I really think he should see a doctor."

"He isn’t concussed, Abram, you said it yourself, no blood or bumps on the head."

"He’s been out for more than five minutes!"

That was worrying. He set him down carefully on the backseat of the Maserati.

Andrew pulled open one of his eyes, it was moving slightly, as if he was asleep. No weird dilation or bad response.

"He’s fine. I think he’s taken a little trip to Germany."

At Abram’s sound of confusion Andrew closed the doors and started heading back to the club

"Look after him while I get Aaron."

Abram raised an eyebrow. "And what am I supposed to do? Yell at people? Wave my invisible arms around?"

"No, you come get me."

Abram didn’t argue, which was a miracle all by itself.

Andrew told Roland to call the cops on a drunken fight outside the doors and then got Aaron back to the car.

Abram was standing guard by Nicky’s head, looking pensive.

"What the hell is going on?"

At first Andrew was going to explain Abram but then realized that wasn’t what Aaron was asking.

"We’re going home, he’s asleep so don’t touch him."

As police sirens started in the distance Andrew pulled away from Eden’s, his brother by his side, his cousin lying on the back and Abram a mere reflection on the rearview mirror.

He had other priorities to attend to.


	7. Seattle and all that comes with it

They were speeding down the highway, Neil had an empty gun on his lap and a map of the state of California in his hands. He was trying to give directions to his mother, who was growing more and more reckless the further they got.

They changed cars three more times and every time Mary got out she left a worrying amount of blood behind.

Neil had been trying to convince her to stop so he could treat her wounds but she wasn’t having it. The smell of car exhaust and fresh blood was clogging his senses. 

Neil could feel the pull in the back of his mind calling him to South Carolina. It was telling him to let go, to run away just for a little bit. He wouldn’t do it, he couldn't leave his mother like that.

He kept driving, his eyes on the road, but straying every once in a while to check on her.

Once they got to a safe place, once she was no longer breathing like the world was running out of oxygen, then he’d go to Andrew.

Seeing Lola and Romero once again had shaken him to the core. He knew sleep would be impossible for a few nights at least, and one or two visits would do him good.

He missed the blond like a limb.

Andrew hadn’t visited him in so long.

Of course he was happy that Andrew felt safe enough that he didn’t have the need to escape into his mind, but he missed having him appear by his side during the long nights he kept vigil, when every shadow could be out to get him.

Andrew was the one bright thing.

Neil shook his head, he had to focus now. Think about Andrew later.

He turned his head, seeing Mary’s slumped form. He was too scared to check for a pulse

"Mom, we really should stop."

Her only answer was a deep frown, but at least she had answered.

"Mom… please"

"We can’t stop yet, Abram."

Abram stopped looking at the road. Mary only called him that when things were serious.

"We’ve already ost them. You can’t keep going like this."

Mary took her hand from her side and looked at the blood dripping from it with a detached sort of interest. She considered something and then turned her gaze to him, suddenly more alert.

"Listen to me, boy, you need to promise me something."

***

He never thought this would happen.

Mary had always seemed so trong, so resourceful.

The idea of her being killed wasn’t realistic.

This just wasn’t real.

No tears left his eyes as he peeled his mother off the car seat, he didn’t sob or curse as he drenched the car in gasoline, his face betrayed no emotion as the flames warmed his entire body and the smell of burning flesh seared itself into his mind.

He watched as his mother’s body turned to nothing but ash while he stood by the road, clutching his duffel bag to his chest. But he did not cry, he wasn’t sure he even could.

When he gave in and visited, it wasn’t by any conscious thought. It was pure survival instinct, like it had been the first time. If he hadn’t visited he wouldn’t have stayed alive much longer, and his body knew it. 

Even if his mind had decided to retreat from the world, his heart still beat, his lungs dragged air in and out, and his soul travelled through the country to the one source of life it knew of.

***

It was the middle of the night, the boy stood in the middle of a dark room, his arms around his chest. He saw a blond head peeking over the covers of the bead and he wanted to reach out, to call for him, but he didn’t move.

His mouth opened but no sound came out.

He couldn’t move, couldn’t talk, couldn't feel a thing.

The boy just stood there and stared, his breathing calm, as it had been all along. A mechanical reflex, no more than that.

Empty, the boy was empty. He knew he wasn’t supposed to be, he had just been facing the flames that took the last person who cared for him and now he was alone but he couldn’t feel a thing. He had nothing else inside.

There was only one certainty on his heart. He didn’t want to be alone.

He wanted the other boy to rise from his bed and save him, to pull him out of the pit he had fallen into. He couldn’t even call out to him.

He didn’t even know who he was anymore. Mary was dead, there were no more names, no more secrets. His father would find him, now, and he couldn’t even move.

Without realising, his breathing picked up and gotten louder. This change was enough for Andrew.

He woke up immediately, there was no drowsiness or sleep keeping his eyes closed. He was asleep one moment and wide awake the next. He sat up on his bed and looked straight at the person standing before him.

It had been many years ago that he learned to discern the boy’s shape in the dead of night. To separate him from other, less desirable, night-time visitors, so he remained calm.

That was until he noticed the state the other was in.

First of all, his arms were covered in blood, at it looked disturbingly fresh. He had some other fluid sticking to his pants, which looked like gasoline, and his hair was a mix of both, probably from having ran his dirty hands through it. His face, though, was absolutely blank.

Although the other was clearly hyperventilating, he still kept his face arranged on a neutral expression, as if trying to pass unnoticed even now.

Andrew had never seen him wearing such a scary face before. And he had seen him covered in blood plenty of times.

"Abram?"

The boy didn’t move.

Aaron grumbled from his bed but didn’t wake up. Andrew asked louder,

"Abram, can you hear me?"

He heard Andrew, he wanted to answer, but he couldn't. All his strength had been used to burn that car, and the woman inside it, and now, he was empty. There was nothing left in him. He couldn’t answer.

"Abram!" Andrew straight up shouted at him, as he got out of bed and stood right in front of the other. He was worried the other would hyperventilate himself into unconsciousness and then he’d be unreachable.

"What the hell are you doing?" Aaron was looking at him like he was mental, which wasn’t new so Andrew ignored him.

"Abram, look at me. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s wrong"

There were three different coping mechanisms they had developed over the years. If they weren’t badly hurt then they’d read a book until the other felt better. If they were bored and had visited willingly they’d go for a walk and talk, maybe share a few truths. However, if the other was badly hurt, as Andrew had once been, then Andrew needed to get Abram back to consciousness and to his mother or somebody who could help.

"Have you finally fucking lost it? Let me sleep."

At Aaron’s harsh tone, Abram flinched, curling into himself.

Andrew hated Aaron right then but at the same time he had managed to pull a reaction from the boy. He could work with that. "Get out."

"What?"

"Get out. Go get a glass of milk or whatever. I need the room."

Aaron, still half buried in his blankets, frowned at him, "Why?"

He didn’t want to deal with his brother at that moment, he didn’t have the time or the patience, so he went with the truth. "Because my soulmate is here and he might be in shock so I need to concentrate on him and not you."

"You have a…?"

Before he finished the sentence Aaron seemed to think better of it and quickly got out of the room. "I’m gonna get Nicky."

That dealt with, Andrew took a deep breath and turned back to the shadow standing in his room, who was still breathing too fast.

"I don’t know what happened. But you are with me now, Abram, they aren’t here. They are far away and you are here." All Andrew wanted was to be able to touch him, to hold his neck so he’d be able to feel him, to help him breathe.

"You are here, Abram, you are with me." He kept repeating that mantra as the other managed to get his breath back in control. His body still wouldn’t listen to him but at least he didn’t feel like he was about to pass out any second now.

"Andrew." His voice was so small, so shattered, that Andrew almost missed it.

"I’m here." He was standing right in front of him, so close that, had they actually been in the same space, they’d have been breathing the same air.

Without thinking it, the boy raised his hands, searching for purchase on Andrew’s shirt, finding only air in its place.

He needed something physical, but he settled for staring directly into his soulmate’s eyes as he let out the words that had been screaming inside his head this whole time.

"Andrew, she’s dead"


	8. Consequences and plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Double update? Double update!

"She’s dead"

Andrew closed his eyes for a moment

How can a few words that you have dreamed of hearing be so utterly heartbreaking?

Andrew had wanted to kill Mary for what he did to Abram, had even tried to convince the other to run from her and never look back. But now that the woman was dead he realized why none of that would ever have happened.

Abram looked dead himself.

His face was pale, his eyes wide open but empty inside. His voice, when he said the words that could doom him, had been quiet and oh so broken.

Abram had said many times that MAry was the only thing keeping him alive, right now it looked like it.

He looked more carefully at the boy in front of him. He had his skinny arms wrapped around his torso, all wrapped up in a dark hoodie, but the color of the fabric couldn’t hide the fact that it was drenched in blood. 

"Are you hurt?"

Abram didn’t seem to hear him over the noise going on in his own head.

"They found us. I don’t know how but… and we tried to run, I swear I ran as fast as I could…"

The boy was working himself into another panic.

To stop this, and also to get his attention once again, Andrew snapped his fingers in front of Abram’s face a few times, until his eyes focused on him once again.

"Are. You. Hurt."

Abram came back to himself, looking down at his blood-splattered clothes like they were something utterly uninteresting.

"This isn’t mine."

Andrew nodded. At least the idiot wasn’t dying at that exact moment.

"Are you somewhere safe?"

Abram took a moment to look at Andrew perplexed before bursting out laughing. Andrew hated that laugh. It wasn’t Abram’s, it belonged to someone far darker. The smile contorting his pretty features promised pain, if for others or Abram himself, Andrew didn’t know.

"Safe?" He said between bouts of breathless laughter, "I’m in the middle of nowhere California with a burning car and my mother’s corpse. My father’s men are looking for us and apparently knew where to find us. I have to bury the only person who stood between them and myself and you ask me if I’m _safe_?"

By the end of his tirade Abram was doubled over himself, his whole body shaking and his face obscured by dirty bangs.

Andrew remained silent, looking closely at him as he had his breakdown.

It wasn’t long before the laughing gave way to unrestrained sobbing. Abram let himself fall to his knees and Andrew followed, sitting in front of him.

Andrew extended his hands to Abram, so the other could see he was still there, but said nothing.

"And now I have to keep running and I don’t know if I’ll be able to last long without her. I promised her I would but… what’s even the point? when they are going to get me eventually, like they did her?"

This made Andrew break his silence, "Are you thinking of breaking our promise, then?"

The boy looked up at him, his eyes confused for a moment before understanding took over.

"It’s not the same anymore, Andrew. I can’t… I can’t just cross state lines without her help. Much less get that much closer to _him_."

"All I’m hearing are excuses."

At this Abram felt anger swell in his chest. "Damn it, Andrew! My mother is dead because of me and I can give up if I want to. Just because yours was a piece of shit doesn’t matter we all get to happily send them off a fucking cliff and go on with our lives. "

All these, Andrew just sat and took it. He knew what lashing out against the only person you could hurt looked like. He also knew Abram was looking for control in a world he felt he had nothing. So he sat there and let him.

But there were no more words pouring out of the runaway. The only sound leaving him was that of his heavy breathing and choked sobs.

Andrew raised an eyebrow. "Are you quite done?"

Abram snapped his head up, looking at him with a mixture of hatred and hopelessness. "You are such an asshole."

The asshole in question had heard that so many times that he waved it off. So many times it had been Abram the one to pull him away from the cliff, to reason him out of violent outbursts. Now Andrew was witness to his own aggression, it didn’t take the form of blows but rather sharp words meant to cut deeper than bone.

"Now, I’ll ask again: are you in any immediate danger?"

Abram shook his head, "We lost them hours ago."

"Good."

With that taken care of Andrew focused on getting Abram back from the abyss.

After an hour of talking they were back to fighting.

"Why the hell can’t I just go and pick you up?"

"Because, as I’ve told you many times, there’s murderers after me, and they will most definitely murder you."

"I don’t care."

Abram let out a sigh

"I know, but you need to listen. If I try to go anywhere at this moment then they’ll be able to track me down far too easily. You seem to still want me alive so getting in a car and crossing the entire continental United States is not the way to do it."

They have been over it but Andrew didn’t see any other way to make sure Abram was safe.

"Then what do you suggest? You stay in that beach getting a tan until it’s calm?"

"No. I’m just saying we need a plan."

Now it was Andrew’s time to sigh in exasperation.

"And what would that be, mister runaway?"

Abram bit his lip, looking up at Andrew’s face.

Andrew recognized that face, Abram was trying to be cute so he couldn’t get angry at him.

"No. whatever it is, I hate it." He hated how much it worked.

"I’m not saying you can’t come get me…"

"Good"

"I’m just asking you to wait"

"Not good"

Abram couldn’t hold back a little smirk.

"Yes good. I still have an unused ID that they can’t track, if I lay low for a while they’ll lose my track. _Then_ you can come."

"I hate you."

"I know"

Neither of them liked the idea of just, waiting for something to happen, or not happen, but Andrew understood that he couldn’t go against the full force of a mafia empire on his own. Well, he could, but it’d put Abram at risk and that was not acceptable.

"How long?"

Abram thought about it. All he wanted to do was run straight to Andrew, finally see him and touch him, feel him, but he needed to be practical. Rushing only put Andrew at more risk.

"A year."

Andrew physically flinched at that and Abram gave him an apologetic look.

"I’ll find some small town and keep to myself. Then, if nothing happens, you can drive here and I’ll go."

This was the most realistic plan they’ve ever had. Andrew had started fearing they would never meet at all. He could wait a year.

"One year."

Abram nodded.

Andrew resigned himself for a year of knowing that the most important person in his life was fending for himself and always at risk of being found out.

Abram smiled at him, "I promise I’ll visit."

"Do whatever you want." If he missed even one visit Andrew would go instead.

"Thank you, Andrew." The blond frowned at him.

"Whatever. What’s your name?"

Abram needed a few seconds to think back to the documents his mother had gotten them back in Seattle, before everything went to shit.

"Neil. Neil Josten."

Andrew nodded at him, "I’ll be watching you, Neil"

Neil smiled at him as he started to pull himself back. "See you soon"


	9. It's Kevin time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had to write this chapter TWICE because I fucked up the timeline  
> Thankfully the folks on the aftg Discord are literal angels and helped me get the facts straight

"Why do you do this to me?" Neil looked up, absentmindedly pushing his hair back. 

He gave the blond a sly grin, deciding not to answer out loud on behalf of him being in the middle of practise and Andrew not actually being physically there.

Laying low meant not letting people know you had a soulmate, and that you have been seeing them since you were far too young.

Andrew rolled his eyes at the smile and sat himself down on the ground, crossing his arms for added effect. "I hope you realise just how much more boring you are making my life by playing this cursed sport."

Neil made a pass to his teammate, a tilt of his head the only indication that he was listening.

"It's bad enough I have to deal with _Kevin_ , now I also have to watch exy in my visits?"

But this complaining wasn’t enough to pull the junkie from the game so Andrew contented himself with watching Neil, and only Neil, ignoring the game itself.

Turns out that a year without having to run constantly and having a woman beat you up makes wonders to your physique. Neil was still too skinny but he had been putting on a healthy amount of muscle. Andrew refused to thank damned stickball for it but Neil’s legs had never looked this good.

Happily entertained Andrew didn’t realise practise was over until Neil was walking towards the stands, letting the others take the showers first.

He followed.

"Sorry, forgot to tell you coach wanted us to do some extra practises"

"Hmm" After The Incident Andrew and Neil decided to set times for visiting, so they could check on one another.

They had been going back and forth for a few months now. Andrew liked to criticize Neil’s living arrangements

_"This isn’t a house, Abram, you are being homeless."_

_"It has a roof! And walls! That’s literally a house."_

_"Tomorrow we’re looking for a better place."_

While Neil liked to get angry on Andrew’s behalf for things that Andrew didn’t give a single fuck about.

_"If they call you monster one more time…"_

_"You’ll do what? Yell at them?"_

_"They didn’t even try to know you!"_

_"I don’t want them to."_

_"How can they expect you to play exy with them when they are assholes?"_

_"You say that like I’m supposed to care."_

Neil’s obsession with the game had grown exponentially now that his mother wasn’t there to beat it out of him. Which Andrew hated most of the time. Namely, when he was trying really hard to ignore that annoying voice telling him to _Just try_ during practice.

But he had never hated the sport more than that time it caused their first real fight…

* * *

It started innocently enough, as shit storms tend to do, in Andrew’s experience.

"So Rene decided we should go as each other's date, since neither of us has a real one or is likely to get one for the banquet."

Neil nodded absentmindedly. They were sitting at the top of Andrew’s dorms, he was smoking a cigarette and Neil was stopping the urge to take it from his hands

"Didn’t you say that Rene had a soulmate too?"

Andrew nodded. Because of their _circumstances_ a good part of the foxes had met their soulmates already and Rene was closer to Neil and Andrew’s circumstances than any of them. She had visited at thirteen.

"Yes, but she says it’s platonic and she has a boyfriend so she won’t ask."

Neil frowned. He had been thinking about it a lot and he couldn’t picture Andrew having a romantic partner and deciding to spend time with them instead of him, he wasn’t a jealous person but he didn’t like the thought.

"Can I go?"

Andrew looked up from where he was lighting a second cigarette.

"Can you go where?"

"To the banquet" He clarified, like it was obvious.

"Why would you want to do that? It’s just a bunch of jocks pretending to be functioning adults… actually, I think you’d fit right in."

Neil ignored the attempt to derail the conversation.

"Because it’s a gathering of all Class I teams! Jeremy knox… even Kevin Day is going to be there!"

"You junkie, if I didn’t know better I’d think you have a crush on the guy"

He merely rolled his eyes, "I just like how he plays"

"Sure…"

Andrew smirked at him as Neil flipped him off.

"Anyways, can I go?"

"You can do whatever you want"

"I know, but if you tell me no then I won’t." He said simply, as if a “no” was all it took. And with Neil, it was.

"We leave at six, but the banquet starts at seven, wear something nice."

Neil didn’t wear something nice, much to Andrew’s disappointment. This was, of course, because he didn’t _own_ anything nice but that didn’t stop Andrew from imagining him on a suit. He couldn’t wait until the year was up so he could dress the boy up in clothes that actually fit.

Turns out Neil’s combo of too-large sweat pants and grey large hoodie was the last of his problems that night.

"Oh my god, Andrew, he’s…"

"Help me…"

Andrew stood, frozen, in the bathroom. He had wanted to escape the other athletes and talk to Neil for a bit but what he found instead of peace and quiet was a tall boy huddled on himself, his hands held tightly to his chest and face streaked with tears.

He had been with Abram for long enough to not freak out over a large amount of blood on someone’s body but it seemed this person wasn’t as used to violence.

He was panicking, trying to stop the blood and hurting himself at the same time.

"It’s Kevin Day"

"I can see that." He said between his teeth.

"Help me, please, I can’t…"

This snapped Andrew into motion "I don’t like that word" He approached the hurt striker and looked closely to his hand. It was way worse up close

Andrew looked Kevin in the eyes. "What happened?"

"It was… A raquet. I can’t move it, oh god, I can’t…"

Andrew snapped his fingers, "Stop."

Then he turned t the invisible boy by his sides, who had remained quiet up until now.

"Do you know how to fix this?"

Abram didn’t even look, "Andrew, we can’t get mixed up with this."

The blond raised an eyebrow, "You were the one who wanted to see the great Kevin Day."

"What?" Kevin asked, still dazed by the pain

"Yes, from afar. We can’t get mixed up with whatever this is, Kevin belongs to the Moriyamas."

He said it so naturally, like it was a fact and there was nothing wrong with it, it made Andrew's skin crawl. Like Kevin’s life was only the mafia’s concern, nobody else’s, like nobody was allowed to intervene. He had been in that position before, where he was _someone else’s_ concern so nobody bothered to intervene. He had thought Abram, of all people would understand but he had been his father’s and then his mother’s his whole life.

Andrew shook his head. He’d deal with that later.

He extended his hands towards Kevin, who was looking paler by the second.

"Let me see."

Be it the blood loss or the fact that Kevin considered himself already dead, he didn’t hesitate to give his hands to the goalie.

Without bothering to look at his companion, Andrew asked, "Tell me how to fix him, Abram."

And Abram was helpless but to do as he asked, because Andrew hadn’t asked Neil, the runaway who was here to have fun and look at famous players, he had asked _Abram_ , his soulmate and the only person he had trusted for so long.

"First we need to put the bones back into place..."

Once first-aid had been administered Neil doubled his efforts to get Andrew to leave Kevin behind.

"He’s going to live, Andrew. You can hand him over now!"

Andrew tugged Kevin onto his shoulders more securely, he had passed out in the process of rearranging his biones, which was really a good thing for him.

"Go look if there’s anybody by the doors."

Neil run away and back. "There isn’t. But listen, you can’t just take him to your bus. They’ll look at the security cameras and find out who took him. You’ll be in danger."

"I really wish I could touch you right now."

This made Neil freeze "What?"

"So I could make you shut the hell up."

Neil rolled his eyes, "You aren’t listening. He’s the Moriyama’s!"

"If you say that one more time…"

Neil stopped walking and turned to face Andrew. "You’ll what?"

He was angry, his blue eyes were pools of solid ice and his face was contorted in quiet rage. Abram had never being quiet on his anger but the expression took over Neil’s features with frightening ease.

Andrew took a calming breath, he knew yelling at him would do no good. 

"He needs help, Abram."

What Andrew didn’t say was that the moment he saw Kevin standing alone in that bathroom another image came to mind, one perfectly clear despite the years passed. 

He had seen Kevin but he had also seen a boy, too small for his age, standing in a dark room and soaking wet after his own father had tried to kill him. He had spent years watching that little boy get hurt over and over again without being able to do anything. But Kevin? He was standing right in front of him, hurt and scared shitless because he was considered property by the people supposed to treat him as family. He could help him. He could protect him. And he would

"I won’t go anywhere near him, Andrew, even if you are right beside."

"Is that a challenge?"

When that got no response Andrew lifted his eyes to see that Neil had vanished, back to his refuge in California and far away from him. Again.

Kevin let out a small moan from where he was perched on his back

"One problem at a time."

* * *

Lucky for Andrew, this was one of the few problems that resolved themselves, before he decided to just not care and drive out to Neil whether he wanted it or not.

The Moriyama’s, very publicly, disowned Kevin after he “suffered a terrible skiing accident and decided to run away from his family”

He didn’t see the press conference himself but one day he was reading in his dorm when he looked up and saw Neil sulking at the other puff.

"I’m not here because of you," he said, without even looking at the blond, "I’m here to see Kevin Day."

Andrew refrained from pointing out that Kevin wasn’t there at the moment but took this as permission to pick up the visiting schedule. After a few more silent visits Neil started talking to him normally once again. The bad part was that now Neil wanted to talk to him about Kevin and exy and Andrew wanted to smash his head against a wall more often than not.

Now Andrew had to deal with exy junkies both in his head and outside.


	10. This cupid doesn't have love-arrows but he does have an exy racket and strong arms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First of all: sorry this took so long BUT here's the new chapter and probably one you've all been waiting for  
> Special thanks to my peeps at the aftg discord!

Andrew hated planes.

It was a fact of life, like the fact that the sun rose every day, that death was inevitable and that Abram would always appear at the most inopportune times.

Case in point.

"Where are we going?"

Andrew put away his book, resigned. There was no distraction to be had when the other boy was there.

"Nowhere, go away."

Neil ignored his surly tone with the ease born from prolonged exposure. He peered around Andrew and saw Kevin and Wymack sleeping on their seats.

"You didn’t tell me you were going out to recruit someone new today."

Usually, if Kevin needed to go with their coach to scout someone he’d inform Andrew of where he’d be and then the blond would have a few days of peace and quiet.

"I wasn’t."

Andrew didn’t want to travel across the country to look at some messed up kid who was moderately good at stickball in the off chance that he wanted to try and go to college. But then Kevin had mentioned offhandedly the name of this particular mess-up, and he was out the door faster than his head could process it.

They had agreed on a year but this wasn’t _technically_ breaking the promise since Andrew wasn’t driving to pick him up, he was merely accompanying Kevin and Wymack to check out a possible new recruit.

He hadn’t told Neil this, though, because the other wouldn’t see it his way and chances were the runaway would get spooked and just book it.

Neil saw how tense Andrew was, huddled on the small airplane seat and rubbing his fingertips over his armbands, so he tried to take his mind off his current situation. His preferred method these days was complaining at him about classes and his coach, who he was pretty sure knew Neil had been sleeping at the locker room the last few nights.

Andrew closed his eyes and pretended to sleep as he let the familiar voice calm him down.

About ten minutes before reaching their destination Andrew told Neil to go away. He wasn’t trying to hide but if the runaway heard where they were landing he’d get suspicious and do what he did best.

Neil accepted the dismissal easily, since he was supposed to go to practise anyways, but promised Andrew that he’d check back in after he got home.

* * *

Andrew couldn’t help but look around as they made their way through the small town high school. 

These were hallways that he had seen many times, always keeping to a liers side. Observing as he tried to make himself as small as possible, seeing it work in real time as none of the other kids recognized the mafia runaway in their midst. It had amused Andrew to no end that somebody as interesting as Neil could ever be perceived as unremarkable by most.

Wymack and Kevin were making their way to the court but Andrew, who had kept himself a few paces behind the pair, didn’t follow. Instead, he took a detour to the lockers. He could feel a pull in his gut to where Neil was but he knew him too well to expect him to stay still as they went to him.

As he passed the equipment rack on the wall he picked up one of the racquets absentmindedly.

He’d make sure Neil wasn’t able to run from him again.

***

Andrew wasn’t surprised at all when he heard the sound of rapid footsteps heading his way. He was leaning against the wall right beside the door to the parking lot, knowing this was Neil’s preferred exit since there were no functioning cameras outside.

The other boy was in such a rush to get away that he think to stop before reaching the figure holding an exy racket. Or maybe he did but expected him to be as incorporeal as he had been since they were children.

No matter how stressed Abram was he could always asses his surroundings, cataloguing each possible threat. The thing was, he had never considered Andrew a threat to himself so in this occasion his brain told him there it was safe to run ahead.

He’d curse himself out later, at length, since his “assessment” was not enough to avoid him a hit straight to the gut.

Neil was doubled over himself, holding his stomach.

"Better luck next time, runaway."

"Fuck you."

He had gotten used to Andrew’s comments and so he responded without thinking. 

A moment later his mind supplied that he hadn't heard that inside his head, the voice had sounded _real_. 

Neil snapped his head up and stared.

Standing in front of him, clad all in black as usual, holding an exy racket with as much disinterest as humanly possible, was a boy. A blonde boy with muscles that seemed out of sorts with his short stature, black armbands that he knew hid deadly weapons, and a face that remained impassive even if Abram could see every emotion he was feeling reflected in his eyes.

He hadn’t gotten his breath back after the blow but his inability to speak had nothing to do with that.

Abram righted himself slowly, neither of them saying a word.

He raised a hand slowly, as if to touch but stopped himself a second before he made contact. Fearing what may happen.

With a hushed voice, as if fearing that reality would change if he spoke too loud, Abram spoke the name that had kept him going these long months after his mother’s death. A name that he learnt so many years ago. A name that meant _safety_ , and _understanding_ , and _home_ for a runaway who never knew any of that.

"Andrew?"


	11. There's a choice and it isn't going to make itself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't you love it when authors say they will update *soon* and then they disappear for a month?  
> As always: not beta'ed, we die like Neil's mom

"Abram”

The two boys looked at each other, neither dared to move a muscle in case this was a dream and the delusion would disappear.

The one on the floor looked up at the one with the exy stick on his hands. He was backlit by the fluorescent lights on the hall, his blond hair looking like a halo over the carefully blank face.

Andrew looked down at the runaway that had been dragging him along half the globe, his hair was dark now, but he could guess a hint of red peeking out from the roots, his eyes still hidden from him behind dark lenses. Abram looked at him like he was seeing a ghost.

Then they both turned as one when the sound of rushing footsteps approached.

"Damn it, Andrew, I told you that if you were coming with us you couldn’t hit anyone. Explicitly. Twice.”

Wymack sounded slightly annoyed but not surprised, which was a common mood for him when dealing with anything to do with Andrew, so he elected to ignore him. He was more preoccupied in observing Kevin, looking out for any hint of recognition on his face, anything that could put Abram in danger once more.

Abram was also looking at Kevin but his expression was one of outright fear.

In a small voice, part because he was still winded from the hit to his stomach and part because he didn’t want the others to hear, he said, "I can’t do this.”

Andrew turned back to him and stared, "Time’s up, runaway. Make your choice.”

It’s not that he didn’t want to reach out, grab the boy, and never let him go again, but Andrew would be damned if he ever forced Abram into anything. He would protect him with his life, he had knives now and knew how to use them, neither of them had to ever feel powerless again if he had something to say about it. 

But he wouldn't take the decision away from him.

Abram looked back, his eyes open wide and his mouth silent. He couldn’t, not only because he could still feel his mother’s hands pulling at his hair, her nails biting on the skin of his wrist, the warmth of a funeral pyre made of metal and gasoline; none of that mattered, his mother was dead. But Andrew wasn’t, he was alive and only marginally part of Abram’s world, Andrew shouldn’t have to deal with the things he had dealt with all his life.

In some part of his brain, Abram still saw him as that small boy curled up at the foot of his bed, staying still so the monsters wouldn’t find him. Abram didn’t want to bring his own monsters along.

"Hey, we are here to offer you a once in a lifetime opportunity and you don’t look like you’ve had many of those," Kevin’s tone managed to be bored and dismissive at the same time and Neil found that he did not care for it.

"If my running in the complete opposite direction from you was too subtle of a hint, let me clear it up for you: not interested." He got up from the floor and repositioned his dufflebag, putting it in front of his body like a shield.

"Is that you final answer, little rabbit?" Andrew’s tone betrayed nothing, giving Abram pause. The rabbit tightened his hold on the strap, focusing on Kevin and Wymack so he wouldn’t have to look at Andrew.

"It’s the only answer I have.”

Tilting his head, Andrew appraised the boy in front of him. He didn’t look any more real than he did on his visits, in fact, he seemed more intangible now that they were in person.

"Don’t you want to do something with your life?" Kevin interrupted again, "You have some skill and with the right training you could be better, even make Court.”

Holding back a sigh Andrew thanked whatever higher being had blessed Kevin with the right words because even if Neil didn’t care about his future he cared about the stupid sport they were all cursed with. To tell him that, not only he could play a few more years, but that he had the potential to play it to the highest level was like dangling a bottle of vodka in front of Kevin.

Andrew saw how Neil’s eyes shone with the possibility and decided to go for the final blow. "As I said, it’s your choice, you can keep running for the rest of your life, however short it may be, but you will be running alone; or you can stop and fight for once in your sad little life.”

It wasn’t the prospect of a life on the run that made it, Andrew knew, it was the subtle threat of being alone, like he hadn’t been since childhood. He didn’t want to but once Abram decided to turn his back on him, Andrew would honor that decision.

"You two are a trainwreck, remind me to never bring the both of you to meet a recruit ever again," Wymack sighed as he wiped a hand through his hair, defeated. 

"Look, kid, I know you’ve heard of the Foxes, and according to your coach you more than meet our standards so I’m gonna leave these pamphlets right here"

He stooped low to place the papers on the floor, noticing that the kid was carefully monitoring the distance between them, "And we’ll be in contact with the school to make sure that you get all the information you could possibly want.”

Neil eyed the papers, his mind warring between curiosity and distrust, he still didn’t move.

"You can take your time," The man assured him, and he sounded honest. Abram knew he was trustworthy from what he had seen along Andrew, this man helped the twins and even offered to include Nicky on the program. He cared about his team.

"Actually, " Kevin said, looking at Wymack with a frown, "He can’t we need to sort this out before the season starts, we can’t be without a striker sub.

"We’ll figure something out. For now, let’s go." Wymack turned around, Kevin following suit, looking worried. "If you have any questions, I left my number on top of the stack." The coach threw over his shoulder, trying to look as carefree and unthreatening as a man his stature could.

They started walking down the hall, back to the gym entrance.

Andrew allowed himself one last look at the boy. He was Abram at that moment, the calculating look in his eyes, along with the tightly coiled body always ready to run, could belong to no other name.

"Abram," he called again.

"I need time to think, " the other breathed out, letting the tension leave him.

The blond nodded at him and turned away.

Neil curled up on the floor, his bag held against his chest protectively. "What am I supposed to do now..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I love Kevin and he has had a shitty time for most of his life, he is just worried about his team, not trying to be an asshole.  
> Second, we are in novel-timeline now so feel free to suggest parts of the books you'd like to see. I'll try to include everything without just doing a re-write of the trilogy

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you think?  
> If you want to talk or want to give me a prompt, hit me up on tumblr as papereyedgirl


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